PITTSBURGH — During what felt from afar like a particularly painful stretch of baseball last season, when foul ball after foul ball seemed to nosedive into Yadier Molina’s feet, manager Mike Shildt sidled over to one of the team’s athletic trainers to ask if the catcher might be playing with a broken toe. He must be playing with a broken toe, the manager said.
“Broken toe?” Chris Conroy responded, as Shildt recalled Sunday. “He doesn’t have bones in his toes. He’s got dust.”
Shildt laughed.
“He was kidding, obviously,” he said. “But making a point. This guy is just different.